{"id":1837813,"date":"2025-03-12T13:32:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T17:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1837813"},"modified":"2025-08-27T07:23:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:23:53","slug":"google-maps-has-a-lot-of-user-contributed-imagery-in-the-wrong-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/03\/google-maps-has-a-lot-of-user-contributed-imagery-in-the-wrong-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps Has a Lot of User-Contributed Imagery in the Wrong Places"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I found a TON of mistakes on Google maps....\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CMemCW8aDWs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CMemCW8aDWs\">Geography Now was poking around northern Chad in Google Maps<\/a> and came across a bunch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/streetview\/contribute\/\">user-contributed 360-degree images<\/a> of business interiors that had nothing to do with Chad: they were associated with businesses in Brazil, India, Hungary and so forth. I\u2019m inclined to think these were geocoding glitches or user errors, since the Gulf of Guinea (home of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/tag\/null-island\/\">Null Island<\/a>) seems to have a particularly bountiful crop of them, but I\u2019m spotting shop and schoolroom interiors in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Geography Now was poking around northern Chad in Google Maps and came across a bunch of user-contributed 360-degree images of business interiors that had nothing to do with Chad: they were associated with businesses in&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/03\/google-maps-has-a-lot-of-user-contributed-imagery-in-the-wrong-places\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[82,108],"class_list":["post-1837813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-map-errors","tag-google-maps","tag-street-view","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1787501,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/07\/recent-google-maps-errors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1837813,"position":0},"title":"Recent Google Maps Errors","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"10 July 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Map data is not perfect and users are too trusting. They believe maps to be accurate, and the map data that GPS receivers, online maps and smartphones rely on is riddled with a thousand insignificant errors that show up in unexpected cases. Whenever we read a story about some driver\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Map Errors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789480,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/10\/apple-and-google-maps-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1837813,"position":1},"title":"Apple and Google Maps Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 October 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Apple Maps AppleInsider looks at how cycling directions work in iOS 14. Macworld provides a primer on how to correct errors and add features in Apple Maps. Apple\u2019s new maps have now officially launched in Ireland and the United Kingdom (previously). Google Maps Google\u2019s official blog details updates to Live\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1427,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/04\/the-washington-post-on-google-maps-errors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1837813,"position":2},"title":"The Washington Post on Google Maps Errors","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 April 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"\"Although Google Maps is fast\u00a0becoming the ultimate authority on navigation,\" writes Karen Turner for the Washington Post,\u00a0\"the program is proving vulnerable to mistakes and hackers with results that at times\u00a0can be\u00a0catastrophic.\" Turner focuses on Google and problems with its error-correction and verification processes; it's worth remembering, though, that all online\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Map Errors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1787450,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/millions-of-business-listings-on-google-maps-are-fake-wsj\/","url_meta":{"origin":1837813,"position":3},"title":"Millions of Business Listings on Google Maps Are Fake: WSJ","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 June 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal goes in-depth on a problem Google Maps has had for years: fake and deceptive business listings posted by scam artists that crowd out legitimate local businesses\u2014as many as 11 million such listings at any given moment, according to experts. Online advertising specialists identified by Google as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Map Errors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788512,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/03\/when-google-wont-let-you-fix-a-map-error\/","url_meta":{"origin":1837813,"position":4},"title":"When Google Won&#8217;t Let You Fix a Map Error","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"10 March 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"A couple of years ago, Amanda Ripley discovered that Google Maps had two locations listed for her home, which made giving directions difficult. As the change propagated to services that used Google Maps, the problem worsened. Deliveries kept turning up at the other location. But it turned out that there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Map Errors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1791420,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/google-maps-called-out-for-showing-potentially-fatal-mountain-routes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1837813,"position":5},"title":"Google Maps Called Out for Showing &#8216;Potentially Fatal&#8217; Mountain Routes","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The Guardian: \u201cScottish mountaineering charities have criticised Google for suggesting routes up Ben Nevis and other mountains they say are \u2018potentially fatal\u2019 and direct people over a cliff.\u201d Google Maps\u2019s issue with Ben Nevis is that it routes to a parking lot nearest the summit, then more or less straight-lines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Map Errors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Map Errors","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-errors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1837813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1837813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1837813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1837815,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1837813\/revisions\/1837815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1837813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1837813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1837813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}